Abacus

something that he was not going to raise with DL because if it was not sanctioned they may look upon it as unwelcome attention. Perhaps DL was now looking at using psychopathic murderers for their cause, but it didn’t seem their style. The DL link, however, seemed the only credible way she could have been put in contact with him. This was further reinforced when she referred to him as “tasking her” tasks he had only set for himself. And what did she mean by “things becoming clearer?” As he stared out of the Fishbowl, he only hoped they would.

CHAPTER 25 – BUT THERE’S MORE

    Later that evening, Randall was enveloped in total darkness when the light evening breeze had extinguished the candle. This wasn’t just darkness, it was totally pitch-black as the moon was eclipsed by the overcast evening sky. He calmly lit a match and shielded the wick with his hand as he waited for the flame to take hold.
    Finally , the shimmering candle illuminated his parents’ grave and his most recent gift of a handful of shells to add to his growing collection. Looking out into the darkness, he spoke softly. “I planned on delivering one shell to you both tonight, but surprisingly there were another seven I didn’t expect. The world is sure full of surprises, isn’t it?” Pushing the shells onto the concrete edging, he continued. “I get the feeling DL have bigger plans for me, I mean, on a larger scale. You’re probably aware by now that Jenkins managed to avoid the parole hearing, so he is still inside. He knows he is living on borrowed time. He knows I won’t rest until he has suffered great pain before being slaughtered horrifically.”
    * * *
    It was now four days since the death of his last bait. This was the first circumstance where his bait had died in company with the target. It was also the first time he had lost two baits in such quick succession. He was at a loss. He had waited for an instructional text from DL, which usually followed the termination of a bait, but after days of waiting, there had been nothing. Which was very strange.
    Later in the day he decided to send a text to DL to find out what his next instruction was to be. He sent the text, Do we have a new bait, and waited for a response. Hours later he had still not heard anything. This was totally out of the ordinary as Noel would always respond to his texts, usually within half an hour of receiving them. He now became deeply concerned. This was an organization he didn’t want to cross.
    The following afternoon , he sent a further text to DL without any response. Paranoid thoughts now ran through his mind, he was now a little fearful himself. If DL could so easily dispose of bait, it wouldn’t be much harder for them to dispose of him. He knew so much about their organization, why wouldn’t they want to eventually kill him?
    Composing himself, he sipped on his coffee and looked up and down the darkened street from outside a sidewalk cafe. They are probably watching me right now and I wouldn’t know it . He backtracked and thought about his movements with Irish and Tracey. He couldn’t think of anything he had done differently from the previous thirty-two assignments he had completed. He only hoped that the killings associated with his moleskin book had not jeopardised their relationship.
    But wh y now? And where is Noel? All of a sudden he felt very, very alone and vulnerable. Feelings he hadn’t felt since he was a child. Even though he didn’t speak with Noel on a daily basis, he always knew he could contact him when he really needed him, but not this time. This time there was no Noel. Perhaps they killed Noel, he thought. Or perhaps he had been replaced, which in any case would probably mean he was dead . He cautiously looked up and down the street as his phone rang; unfortunately, it was the black one.
    “Hi , Michelle,” he said pleasantly to his ex-wife.
    “Don’t forget you have the kids this afternoon. Remember you have to pick them up from school.”
    “Sorry , love, I can’t,” he said quietly, knowing fireworks would start.
    “Bob, you know they ar e looking forward to seeing you. I thought you had got better, but you’re still a prick of a father, aren’t you?”
    He remained silent; he did not want the kids around him until he’d sorted out the issue with DL. The last thing he wanted was for them to see him killed, or worse, if they were killed in the crossfire. “It is what it is, Michelle, I can’t take